So you bought a Lifetime Model six (or some other ancient double-button carbon mic) on eBay; how the hell do you get sound out of it? Yr prolly gonna need one of these. A carbon mic P/S. Allows a double-button Carbon mic to hook up to any mic preamp.
And for some examples of how these crazy mics can sound… check out these earlier posts: click here for acoustic gtr and here for drum kit…
Download a pile of original sales materials and period-magazine-reviews of the DeltaLab DL-2, and early stereo ‘effects processor’:
DOWNLOAD: DeltaLab_DL2
Deltalab achieved success with their later Effectron offerings; these were simpler delay-with-modulation devices that sold in high numbers. You can download a bunch of Effectron lit at this earlier post (and check the comments there for a note from DeltaLab founder Richard DeFreitas!). I used an Effectron a ton in the studio at Uni; they are really great, fun, creative units. Nothing that you can’t do with a good delay plug-in, but having those knobs to turn does impact the user-experience in a great way that software can’t. I had not been aware of this earlier DeltaLab piece. There was also a DL5 ‘Harmonicomputer’ that I have some limited materials on; if there is enough interest I will post that as well.
Download the 40pp book/advertorial “Amplification Without Distortion,” as published by the Acme Apparatus Company of Cambridge Mass in 1925:
DOWNLOAD: Acme_AWD_1925
We haven’t run anything quite so Ye Olde for a while, so I was excited to come across this odd little item at the flea mkt recently. Acme made a few transformers and other radio-part-flotsam and this book offers fundamental advice and construction information regarding RF and AF amps. I’ve included some of the more relevant Audio Amp information below; I’m not a radio guy so I can’t comment on that stuff… At left is their A-2 audio transformer, seems like a Plate-to-Grid unit based on the specs. I think I actually have one of these around somewhere…
I actually own a few of these super fkkn old homemade radios, and they are really pretty fascinating, starting with the fact that there’s basically NOTHING in them… they don’t even have wires, everything is connected via buss bars. I also picked up a circa 1922 one-tube power amp a couple years back, eventually I’ll get around to firing it up… this is real dawn-of-a-new-age stuff here, folks, all of this gear was designed to run on batteries, cos very few people had ELECTRICITY when this book was published. Dig in….
Below, schematics for the three audio amplifiers spec’d in the book:
Download the 6pp catalog for the Eumig FL-1000 cassette deck:
DOWNLOAD: EumigFL1000
Eumig was apparently primarily a film-camera/projector maker, ok, but that doesn’t explain why the FL1000 was designed to be controlled by a Commodore Pet or Apple 2. Actually, you could apparently control 3 of the goddamn things at once. I wonder if there is a single one of these things left working on the planet today.
Download the 4pp AMS ‘shortform catalog’ March 1981:
DOWNLOAD: AMS
Products covered, with text, specs, and photos, include: the AMS DMX 15-80S, DMX 15-80SB, DMX 15-80, DM 2-20, DM-DDS, and DMX 15R
I’ve never owned one of these things, and seeing as they are still pretty pricey I doubt I ever will: seems a bit of an unnecessary luxury given that a DAW can do all of these tasks just as well. But for some reason, the idea of a really nice 80’s digital effect unit has been appealing to me for some time now… might spring for a Eventide H3000 if ever have some spare scratch. I think those things have finally made it to the ‘so out it’s in’ stage.
Download just a shit-tonne of sales materials for the Orange Country Electronics line of EQs and Compressors circa ’78 – ’80:
DOWNLOAD: OrangeCountyAudio
Products covered, with text, specs, and images, include: The Orange County VS-3 Stereo Processor, CLX-S-FM, VS-1 Stressor, VS-2, CLX compressor module, PEQ, SEQ, and DEQ equalizer modules, as well as a 1978 price list.
I know little to nothing about this stuff, other than it seems to be pretty rare, and some folks online believe the designs to be based on ADR’s kit (see this previous post). They sure look like they would be fun boxes for treating submixes, though, esp. the VS-2 Stressor, which combines a limiter, compressor, expander, and there is a frequency-contouring element to the compressor as well. Drop us a line and weigh in…
Download the complete 36pp 1980 Studer REVOX catalog (presented in three parts due to file size):
DOWNLOAD PART 1: Revox_80_part1
DOWNLOAD PART 2: Revox_80_part2
DOWNLOAD PART 3: Revox_80_part3
Products covered, with intensely detailed text, specs, and photos, include: Revox B790 and B795 turntables; B750 integrated amp, B760 FM tuner, B780 receiver, B77 tape deck, BX4100, BX350, BR530, BR530, BR430, and BR320 speakers; the REVOX Triton sub/satellite speaker system; and a whole range of accessories.
REVOX was the consumer-products brand of the Swiss firm Studer; Studer being most noteable as maker of the finest multi-track analog audio tape machines in the world, machines that are still used in studios around the world everyday to make records for top artists. OVER THIRTY YEARS after they were manufactured. Think you’ll still be using those Lynx Convertors in thirty years? NEways… yeah so this is pretty solid kit.
Most audio-folk are familiar with the B77 tape deck, so it’s interesting to see that there was a whole line of amps, tuners and speakers arranged around it. It’s interesting to note how the products are numbered sequentially across their ‘product-types,’ which certainly seems to encourage one to conceptualize them in unity rather than as tokens of a certain ‘kind’ of audio-hardware.
But let’s talk about this catalog. Without a doubt, this is one of the most lavish and neatly designed pieces of audio ephemera I have ever come across, and y’all know I’ve seen a lot of this crap.
Well I guess that explains it. Let’s buy this one.
What does this all mean? What can we take from this layout, lighting, design, mise-en-scene… how does it all work together to create the overwhelming sense that I will never, ever, EVER be able to afford shit like this?
There’s a concept in semiotics called discourse. Discourse can be understood as a social boundary that is learned through lived experience. Discursive boundaries are established by all sorts of things, from spoken language to dress, gestures, the kind of food that one consumes, and the objects that one associates with their person. Consider the King and his throne (above). What does the throne say about the person who sits on it? How do we conceptualize that relationship? How do we describe that relationship? I would suggest that the Revox hi-fi is a discursive marker of an extreme kind of wealth and privilege. The way that this document reinforces this discourse through its various design and art-direction elements is fkkn masterful. Well done, unnamed Swiss ad agency of old. You would def get an A+ in my graphic design class (visual narratives assignment).
Alright let’s get back to some pictures of old stereos.
Alright! So we’ve been toiling in the summer heat here on CT’s Gold Coast to get the first three Preservation Sound videos ready for ya. Filmmaker Richard Ruggiero has put these together, and we plan on making a new show every two weeks or so.
Click on the ‘VIDEO’ tab at the top of the page to view more detailed information about each video.
And… for those you who are into this sorta thing: we’ve created a Facebook page so that you can receive auto-updates on new PS dot com pieces. And you know what else, fukk it, I am done with tumblr, i love it but it’s a one-horse town, so yeah i’ve changed to instagram. Expect all the same bullshit that I used to post to tumblr, but now with cliche shading/vignetting.
Click any of those lil graphic icons at the upper right to check out the new Fbook, twitter, and instagram. Paul Weller, take us out…
Issue #1
Issue #2
Issue #3
Got a pretty good one for y’all today… download the 8pp B.I.C. audio catalog circa 1955:
DOWNLOAD: BIC_Audio_195X
Products covered, with text, specs, and photos, include: Garrard RC88, RC98, RC121, 301, model T Crest phonographs; LEAK TL/10, TL12, and TL/25 amplifiers; Genalex KT-66 and Z729 tubes; Wharfdale W15/CS, W12/CS, Super 12 CS, W10/CSB, Super 8/CS/AL, and Super 3 treble speakers; the Wharfdale Briggs corner enclosure; plus a range of enclosures from R-J and River Edge.
Download the 2PP spec-sheet for the very obscure 360 systems Model 2800 programmable 4-band parametric EQ:
DOWNLOAD: 360_EQ
Four channels, fully parametric, with filters that offer +12 db/ -infinity (notch) operation, and 28 memory locations. The pre-plug-in plug-in. Anyone?
